MOI YouTube Thursdays

The videos we watch and why we watch them

As marketing and advertising professionals, my colleagues and I love trawling the internet (especially YouTube), for funny, interesting and (mildly) motivational videos that turn people’s heads every day. Yes, they might include some cat videos now and then.

So at MOI, we decided, instead of sending YouTube videos back and forth across email to each other every other day, why not dedicate one evening a month just to view videos. A couple of emails, a slew of accepted Outlook invitations and a Google list full of what we hoped were entertaining and educational video content later, we had what we termed ‘MOIYTT’ or the rather long MOI YouTube Thursdays.

The idea was born out of a desire to have a ‘secret cinemaesque’ night where we watch YouTube videos, rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 and discuss a) how it relates to marketing or advertising (if it does), b) does it make the viewer think or feel anything and c) what makes people share.

Visual content has always grabbed eyeballs and ‘micro videos’ are the flavor of the year, and while six seconds Vine videos aren’t quite catching up in the office just yet, YouTube was the next best thing!

So, these were the three high rated videos we watched on our last (and very first) MOIYTT night –

Two were funny, intriguing and innovative and one really used the power of words to get through its messaging across, not to mention tugged at our heart strings

A unique routine with synchronized dancing, and I must say that Natalie Imbruglia was a real sport to not only encourage David Armand, but also get in with the action in the last half minute! But on a serious note, this was a real head turning idea from both the artists, and makes us think of how we can turn around a piece of content to spark ideas.

Our panel of very accomplished YouTube viewers gave this a 10 all around.

The second video that got highly rated also included a song, and actions (Music, eh, brings the world together), showing that even our safety keepers have a light heart.

And while these aren’t technically ‘advertising’ or ‘marketing’ videos, the fact that 12 different people, with different tastes and of different ages sat and laughed through these videos shows that the fundamentals of human behavior doesn’t change – whether traditional advertising or advertising in the age of social and digital, ‘amusement’, ‘joy’, ‘delight’ are still the triggers that make us think and feel, and more importantly share.

The last video that garnered appreciation and was personally, one of my favourites (biased as I am to words), was pure advertising. It was emotional marketing at its best, but done in a subtle and soft way and didn’t feel like a direct sell.

More emotional triggers, but this time painted as a ‘story’. The video starts off almost like a short story and pulls us in – what did she write on the piece of cardboard? A myriad of emotions that help the viewer identify with the characters or the situation will instantly make them hit the share button. Once you watch the video, you realise that the simple but hard hitting change in words really leads to a reframing of the situation – it changes the way someone thinks and feels.

Video content and more importantly, ‘micro video’ content is the rage on social today, and it’s definitely here to stay. Reports suggest that Instagram’s 15 seconds video garners twice the engagement that images do. That should be reason enough for marketers to understand the pull behind moving pictures.

All in all, our first MOIYTT was a great success, and gave us some food for thought about the psychology of human behaviour and how it ties in with marketing a product.

Our second YouTube night is fast approaching, and there is sure to be more exciting content to discover, watch and discuss. Stay tuned for our next blog.

And just to round it up, I leave you with the video that had everyone on the edge of their seats with utter disgust on their faces.